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ThinSkin writes "Now that the folks at ExtremeTech have finished writing about the best keyboards for every occasion, they conclude their roundup of input devices with the best computer mice in every category, which includes ergonomic mice, gaming mice, notebook mice, and so on. While this year's crop of gaming mice didn't impress much, there were advancements in non-gaming mice and tracking, as demonstrated by Microsoft's Explorer Mouse with BlueTrack technology — which is considered more precise than optical and laser. Even ergonomic mice saw little growth in the year — prompting the reviewer to rely on the older Zero Tension Mouse as a favorite."

Well, I don't live on a ship, but I do live on the largest commercial farm in this whole area (it's not mine but I am the oldest employee here). We have automatic start and run large diesel generators to operate the farm itself, three of them needed. Those are computer controlled and have redundant wireless and hard wired controls that coordinate that with the climate control systems in the various buildings and broiler houses and the main feed from the electrical grid. They have their own bulk tanks and th

I don't care what category it is - best mice are: Logitech MX518, Logitech G5 (1st edition has a less annoying texture, 2nd edition has 2 side buttons, but no perfect edition like MX518), and G7 (wireless G5 basically).

I usually sit leaned back in my office chair with my laptop on my lap and a mouse is a waste for me.

A touchpad is also more intuitive to me, the best option that gives me all the advantages of a touchscreen and a mouse.

And those ultra tiny portable mice drive me up the walls, and besides I spend most of my day writing mails and tooling through logs on the command line... no mouse needed for vi, grep or tail thanks a lot.

I like the touchpads, but only if the drivers allow a "delay while typing" setting. Otherwise, my thumbs inevitably tap the touch pad while half way through an email, deleting half, or sending half...:(

I have a Fujitsu tablet now, which has a trackpoint/touch stick. That works fine once calibrated, and saves some space which allows for a bigger keyboard with a smaller screen.

I love the keyboard trackpad on laptops. I use an IBM/Lenovo UltraNav keyboard with trackpad on my desktop. It's identical to a Thinkpad keyboard, including trackpad, but it also includes a numeric keypad.

What I really like about the UltraNav is that it has three mouse buttons, most only have two.

My problem with all mice is that that they require moving your hand away from the keyboard.

This thing is fantastic -- imagine not having to move your arm and wrist in order to move the cursor. I'm kind of surprised that I haven't seen more people using them, although they do take a couple of days to get used to. However, once you're accustomed to it there is no going back.

My major beef with all the mice presented & with the article is that NONE of the mice shown are bluetooth models.

Every laptop I have bought over the past 5 years has had Bluetooth pre-installed to be able to sync/transfer files to/from my cellphone. I will NOT condemn a USB port just to communicate with some mouse's non-standard RF when my PC already has a usable means of communicating with my mouse.

For the past few years, I've used a Logitech V270 Bluetooth mouse with my laptop. It's just awesome -- fast enough to avoid getting confused in games, accurate enough that I don't get angry with it when using Photoshop, small enough that it fits into the laptop bag easily, large enough that it's easy to use, and the batteries last long enough that they go for about six months. And it was cheap: About $30, IIRC.

Bluetooth is a security nightmare. (Seriously, enable it at your own risk in an urban environment.)

Bluetooth mice also eat batteries like crazy and have to deal with a relatively complicated communications stack making them glitch-prone. Logitech's RF protocol is mature, demands very low power consumption (battery charge lasts months, not days), works as smoothly (low latency) as a wire, and is secure enough for mousing use.

Bluetooth is a nice idea but in practice doesn't work as well for mice as other RF p

Bluetooth is a security nightmare. (Seriously, enable it at your own risk in an urban environment.)

Non-nerd questions: what security risks do bluetooth mice pose in a urban environment? If I'm using a bluetooth mouse on a street corner, someone could gain access to my computer? Wouldn't someone have to be set up nearby looking for someone using a bluetooth device hooked up to a laptop? And the main danger there I'm assuming is they could give themselves remote access via the internet?

Or are you just saying some kid with a bluetooth mouse could annoy me by controlling the pointer on my laptop:-P. I d

I have one at work and one at home. The best solution for a cluttered desk, but also fantastic for nearly every kind of use, and a very ergonomic design. While I like it better than a mouse for photo editing/image designing, the thumb-orientation of the trackball makes a straight line more challenging than it should be.

Damn right! I've been using thumb wheel trackmen for 14 years now and I freaking love it. No mouse shoulder, easy to click..
And as a bonus, you can kick serious ass with FPS with our ability to head look or spin ridiculously fast. This feature does take a while to get used to, however..

For me it takes forever to get used to, those trackmen(?) are horrible, I have helped a few people who have them and I am useless. I'm coming to the sad realization that I'm old, and my thumbs are only used to grip things and to wrap around my member. I get totally pwned at console games that require me to use my thumbs on those satanic little joysticks. I can easily hold my own with a mouse and WASD though.

This thing is fantastic -- imagine not having to move your arm and wrist in order to move the cursor. I'm kind of surprised that I haven't seen more people using them, although they do take a couple of days to get used to. However, once you're accustomed to it there is no going back.

Well, it _should_ be fixed in place, but they screwed up and it moves a little, but it hurts like crazy if I touch the wrong flank of the thumb. I can have it fixed again, but I'm not really up to that. There's not much bone in there any more, it's all bone filler.

I have an old model of the Logitech TrackMan Marble. Its buttons were spaced wider than on the new models, so I could comfortably rest one finger on each button and a third finger on the scroll wheel. I like the newer model okay, but I wish they still made them with the widely spaced buttons.

You can probably find an OK mouse from under $10.00 It will probably be mechanical (mouse ball moves a 2 wheel where there are 2 contacts per wheel and its pattern of contact 1 and 2 makes it decide where the mouse is going) and last 4 years. Or the Mouse that works great except for at 4:00pm in the afternoon where the afternoon Sun goes threw the windows at the correct angle threw the mouse buttons and floods the optical sensors. Or you can find a simple 2 button mouse no wheel, that glides nicely with the

A friend of mine has had one for a year now with no probs. I've only had mine for 4 months, so hopefully I won't have a problem with mine. I try to keep my precision mousing surface meticulously clean though. cuts down on having to wipe dirt of he nylon pads.:)

Microsoft doesn't often do things right... but their mice and other human interface devices are superb.

I second that! I've been a microsoft mouse user for a long time, they are hard to beat. People used to see my beige Mac with a microsoft mouse on it and look at it in a lost and confused manner like a dog when you move it's food bowl.

Microsoft's Explorer Mouse with BlueTrack technology--which is considered more precise than optical and laser.

If you don't actually know whether it is more precise (and I guess if you did know then you would have come straight out and said it) then at least give us some clues as to WHO it is who "considers" it to be more precise. The people selling them? An independent study? Some guy you met on the bus? Without that rather fundamental detail, the statement is completely worthless.

bluetrack is optical (they use a blue light LED and 'better quality optics')

The only benefits to bluetrack are that they use a custom CMOS chip instead of off the shelf items and use (supposidly) better optics. They also claim that the blue LED allows a better contrast image for their sensors, likening it to the blue lights used by CSI teams. But that sound more like market talk than actual reality.

I am not sure why a Gaming Mouse has to be Butt Ugly. It is like the Ax Body spry for mice. Anyone under the age of 16 will think it looks so cool, however anyone over that age wouldn't be caught dead with it, unless it is hidden in a dark basement.

I am not sure why a Gaming Mouse has to be Butt Ugly. It is like the Ax Body spry for mice. Anyone under the age of 16 will think it looks so cool, however anyone over that age wouldn't be caught dead with it, unless it is hidden in a dark basement.

I have a razor mouse that I like the texture of and the button feel and placement (plus it isn't sprinkled with superfluous extra buttons). The first ting I did was open that bastard up and remove the blue LED's. It's a mouse, not a runway light, and stop pulsing at me.

Wireless mice don't suck -- your wireless mouse sucks. It's ok, I've noticed it with certain wireless mice before, especially Bluetooth mice. Try one of Logitech's RF laser mice, like the MX620 or LX8. There is absolutely no noticeable delay, and a pair of AA batteries will last over eight months even if you never turn the mouse off.

It's amusing that these guys seem to count slick mouse software as a plus. I bet most of us would rather have a mouse that doesn't need any additional software. Wireless devices don't make any sense to me either, unless you're talking about a media PC. Isn't a mouse/KB that can run out of batteries just additional complication with no benefit? And isn't a charging pad a waste of desk space?

I have a wired mouse and keyboard and I would love to upgrade to wireless.

However, since most of the 'acceptable' mice and keyboards I've found either have no wireless counterpart or their wireless version has custom battery packs instead of a spot for rechargable AA's. So I'm still wired.

Wireless means I no longer get frustrated by having a long FPS session interupted by the mouse wire getting caught on something and I'm suddenly trying to jerk it loose instead of aiming.

For a mouse connected to a desktop computer a cordless mouse adds zero value. I bought a Logitech MX Revolution when it came out because I liked the shape and I liked the wheel. After about 2 months the mouse wouldn't function for more than 4 hours w/out a recharge and the wheel got hopelessly jammed. Cordless is a huge PITA.

OOPS I can't use my PC for a few hours because I need to put the !@#%^!@%!#$@ mouse on the recharger!

OOPS I can't use my PC until I go to the store to buy some new batteries!!

I'm not really sure who can put up with all the extra fuss with wireless devices. The batteries needing to be changed so often, the lag, the extra bulk, all of it. Terrible. Wire is the only way to go for perfect response time, weight, and no headaches.

This is why I like my Logitech G9. You install the software once to configure it, and all of your settings are stored on the mouse itself. So it works the same no matter what computer you're plugging it into, and requires no software running.

The downside is that the software is really, really terrible. So even when I only install it for a few minutes to configure a G9 mouse, I feel dirty.

Where I work, we are strongly advised not to install Logitech mouse drivers as it messes with the PCs. I did it anyway,

Coordless offer a pleasant versatility in particular when you work with someone else on the same computer or if you use a laptop. I use a cordless one for my laptop and I really don't miss those annoying cables. But cord mice are usually lighter than cordless which need they battery included. Because of this weight difference I prefer good old cordful mice for pure desktop machine.

Additional but lesser arguments again using cord everywhere are than you need to pay the additional circuit plus to recharge and recycle additional battery.

I still have a functioning CH Products trackball at home. Still works after 15+ YEARS as a tool. Sure, I had to open it up and clean it inside a couple of times, but I have to do that more often with mice at work, so that shouldn't matter. I also had to get a PS/2 to USB convertor for the one I have (cheaper then buying a new trackball).

They don't take up much desk real estate, you don't have to constantly be picking up and moving them, they don't get gunked up as easily as mice do and you can be just as precise if not more so with them.

That's what bugs me about 99% of the mice out there these days: the good ones(ie 5-buttoners) just have to be wireless. I simply don't want a wireless mouse. I like it permanently connected without having to sync, or charge batteries or have dongles to worry about. Sadly, all i could find was this okay Logitech 5-button corded mouse with smaller side buttons. My all-time fave mouse of yesteryear was the MS Explorer mice that had a whopping 5 buttons on them. I had one for work & home & wore them out

Sadly, that wasn't the best driver software out there. Many moons ago, I remember the Logitech mouse drivers let you use the scroll wheel WITHOUT having to click to focus on the window to scroll. You just moved your mouse to the zone even if it wasn't in focus. Sadly, I can't find that nowadays.

The GP could also try using an desktop that does that. E17 will let you scroll any window at all, it doesn't need to be in focus. I can't say for sure about kde or gnome. I could have sworn that OS X did it to, but I just tried it and it doesn't.

As for mice: I can't stand wireless mice, I tried one once and the weight of the battery made me feel twinges of pain in my joints after a week of use. Ugh! My all time favorite is just a simple Logitech optical mouse [logitech.com]. The first thing I do with one of thes

I've been working with computers for over 22 years now and when I was young I had a dishwasher safe mouse and keyboard. I never knew the manufacturer of it and since the house fire back then I have never found one since.

They were heavy and all you did was pop the bottom off (two thumb screws on the sides unlocked it) and you put the upper part in the top shelf of the dishwasher. Same with the keyboard and mouse.

Now with that new marine waterproofing stuff can we PLEASE GET A DISHWASHER SAFE KEYBOARD AND MOU

No doubt, eh? I never want to use anything besides a Microsoft Trackball Explorer ever again. The fact that they haven't been made in years makes me very uneasy. They're getting harder and harder to find now, too. They used to be rather plentiful on ebay, but now they're getting more and more rare on there, too. And the prices that eventually get paid for them seem to be in the $200-$300 range now pretty regularly. I have been holding off on getting more because of that, but now I think it's time to f

The whole concept of a mouse driven GUI has lost its appeal and significance over time. The touch screen, meaning the ability for users to interact directly with a display and objects embedded within that display, is the next technological leap. Many such devices exist now, we see the intelligent sensitivity of the classic iPhone and other PDA's were no stylus is involved. It's just the desktop computer and high definition screens need to evolve and be priced accordingly so it becomes commonplace.

Do other lefties feel a bit left out? Only two of the mice listed were symmetrical. As a left-handed PC gamer, it seems impossible for me to find a high-quality mouse that comfortably fits my hand. Especially mice with 5+ buttons.

This problem is often exacerbated by games like Fallout 3, in which bethesda felt the need to perma-bind numpad 7 (strafe left for us southpaws) to the 'Stop the game and open windows live' command. Is there no money in making a mirror version for those of us with a recessive gene or two?

Most of the Razer mice are symmetrical. I'm not a lefty, but considering my Diamondback is perfectly symmetrical, I think it would work for you just as well as it does for me. The two buttons currently under my pinky would be under your thumb and thus more accessible, while the other two side buttons would become less useful, but overall it's the same. The Diamondback has 7 buttons, and it looks like they're still available in some places, though there are a few similar models to choose from if not.

Who spends $80 to $100 on a mouse? Is there honestly that much "value" going into it, regardless how fancy it is? I'm calling bullshit. Geeks need to reign in their enthusiasm and just say "no" once in while to ridiculous pricing; greedy pricing only works if we're stupid enough to agree to it.

I've noticeably developed pain in my right wrist, arm and shoulder over the past ten years. It's only my mousing arm, I rarely get pains on the keyboard, but mousing causes huge grief. Most of my pain seems to relate to the act of clicking a mouse button with my fingers.

I prefer my Model M for typing, but for mice I rotate through them. My favourite is the 3m Ergonomic (especially when I click with my thumb and not my fingers). I'm dissatisfied with it o

Surely you must acknowledge that your predicament is outside the scope of what would be considered normal? I've been using mice for even longer than you, both professionally and personally; though I had a bit of carpal tunnel pains for a year or so, I remediated that myself and I've experienced nothing like what you described. Your pointing-device purchasing criteria are not the same as mine; your criteria almost define the mouse as a "medical device". I suppose if I were purchasing a medical device (wha

Anecdotally, no I consider it quite normal. It's rare that I hear of people who don't have some sort of pain after being in this industry a while unless they took precautions all along.

My point is specifically what you reference: I've stuck with the same keyboard (more or less) for the past 20 years, but these days I switch between several different models of mice. It's not typical for people to have five very different mice sitting on their desk, most will do with one or two. Even most people who get a

Is it possible that you're assuming there's some enormous expense that goes into them merely based on the price that is demanded? In trying to visualize the process myself, I can't justify what they're asking based on cost alone: they're pricing it based on the anticipated emotional response of consumers ("demand"), not upon the cost to manufacture.

You shouldn't have to pay $100 for that ergonomic mouse just because you need/want it really bad. That would be them profiting from (a) your misfortune or (b)

I don't know about you, but I sit at a computer 8 to 12 hours a day, and my mouse is in my hand a lot of that time. It arguably makes more sense for me to choose wisely and spend the money (where it makes sense) on a mouse than on a cell phone, which I probably use about 30 minutes a day. But I don't see anyone complaining that $80-100 is overpriced for a cell phone.

It shouldn't be: that ergonomic design "cost" is paid exactly once and then replicated ad infinitum. Further, ergonomics is not rocket science; it's mostly just astute observation, though I concede that is itself a skill largely absent from the general population.:-/

Cost is only one part of the pricing decision. If a good ergonomic mouse costs $50 to make, and the consumer puts an economic value on it of $100 (i.e. the consumer's maximum willingness to pay for this particular mouse is $100), should the vendor sell it at $50.01 or $99.99?

That would depend upon whether the vendor has socialist or capitalist/Darwinian ethics, wouldn't it? (I'm being kind in allowing that pure capitalism even has any ethics... truly it doesn't: it's only the intrusion of socialism into capitalism that imbues it with any ethics at all.)

My answer is that it should be somewhere in between, but a lot closer to $50.01 than $99.99.

Because, I'm claiming, it' doesn't cost them anywhere near $100 to made the thing. There are cliches about taking advantage of other people's misfortune, so why is this okay? Need/desire/addiction isn't that far down the road from misfortune, and if it's priced as it is in anticipation of your need/desire/addiction, then that is wrong in my socialist book.

I've loved the MX series of mice since I first found them, and I will continue to love them, especially the 518 - it's essentially weightless. The buttons are placed perfectly, and it contours to my hand extremely well. It's probably a gamer mouse, but I'd recommend it for everyone.

Plain and simple: I love my wireless Mighty Mouse which I use with my iMac. Never liked any scroll wheel before until the scroll ball Apple added to this mouse. It is genious! Scrolling in any direction and very precise but still sensitive!

And there is no desire for a laptop mouse. The reason might be the small red dot in the center of my keyboard. The track point of IBM/Lenovo just rocks, no need to move the right hand from the keyboard to the right to grap the mouse and move back to the keyboard for typin

I am not reading the article, nor clicking through all the stupid pages filled with ads, because I already know the answers.
The best mouse is the one I've had since sometime in 1998 or 1999: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical USB. It's continued to operate flawlessly for the past 10 years, and was well worth the $75 I paid for it at the time. Five buttons, and a scroll wheel when such things were considered novelties. I regard the yellowing plastic with amusement, since most computer peripherals don't last

I was a little dismayed to see in TFA that SmartShift's "absence in more recent mice leads us to believe that consumers weren't too thrilled with it". I love the SmartShift on my MX Revolution, it's the best feature of the mouse by far and I really hope Logitech aren't dumping it for good.

In my job I'm always being sent huge source code files or CSV data that I need to quickly scroll through, and being able to give the scroll wheel a quick flick so that it switches to freewheel mode and zooms down the file

I disagree in that I like the precision of my mouse. I've used pointing sticks before, and I prefer a trackpad if I'm going mouse-less. However, if I've got the room for it I'll take a mouse every time.

The biggest problem with articles like this is that there's a very wide range of tastes when it comes to input devices. I prefer a simple, wide and long [microsoft.com] mouse for my uses. If given the choice between the linked mouse and a wireless, decked out, beautiful logitech laser mouse that costs hundreds of dollars, I'd take the simple one every time.

I agree, my Kensington Expert Mouse [kensington.com] (really a big track ball) saved me from carpal tunnel. And it is very precise for any graphics or anything else like that. And it moves as fast as anything else out there too... as needed.

It doesn't take long to move the mouse to the navigation buttons, but it's still an additional task getting in the way of what you want to do. With side buttons you can instantly go forward or back without any disruption to your train of thought.